Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Morgan Freeman
Director: Luc Besson (The Fifth Element, The Professional)
Bottom Line: Strange fact: someone – maybe even multiple people – recommended this movie to me. Whoever you are: damn you… DAMN YOU! I probably would have watched this on my own accord on account of Miss Johansson, but I heard enough positive word of mouth that I decided to make it a priority. Don’t make the same mistake. I honestly don’t know what the heck was going on here. For the first 45 minutes or so I was thinking it was a slightly better version of Limitless with nice eye candy and some cool Neo moments, but the last 20 minutes ranks amongst the worst climaxes I’ve ever seen. My girlfriend and I were looking at each other from across the couch like: “What the f*** are we watching?” And, just to cement my conclusion, after it was over, I stated with sincerity that it was the best 2014 movie I’ve seen so far just to see her incredulous reaction.
I really don’t think there’s anything to like here. The characters are absurdly undeveloped. You don’t care about or get to know any of them. That’s normally not a huge problem in an action movie, but unfortunately the action here is mildly entertaining at best. Scarlett Johansson’s interpretation of accessing the higher brain powers is essentially walking around looking like a confused robot. Lucy is such a dominating presence that the bad guys never pose any real threat; there’s no tension. What starts out as a somewhat intriguing concept quickly delves into weird territory and then dive bombs into the totally absurd – and unwatchable. After Lucy reaches about 40% of her brain’s capability, you’ll start viewing the numeric updates of her brain usage as a countdown to the end of the film – and release from this brutal movie.
Replay Value: No thank you.
Sequel Potential: LMFAO!
Oscar Potential: If Scarlett got nominated for a Razzie I don’t think it would have been too undeserving.
Grade: 3/10 (Just Skip It)
The Bat Cave 